Addressability systems for use in cable communication systems are generally known. Addressability is typically regarded as the administration and control of addressable devices. Within the field of cable television, for example, an addressability system may enable and control the distribution of cable services and allow the cable system to control and administer which cable products a customer may purchase and/or view.
A typical cable communications system includes several basic components such as a service provider, a headend, a billing system, a controller and a customer's converter. Normally, the headend receives a signal sent by a service provider, which may send the signal, for example, via an uplink to a satellite and a downlink from the satellite to the headend. At the headend, the signal may be manipulated, for example, by being scrambled, encrypted and having authorization codes attached thereto. The billing system typically manages products and services, customers and addressable equipment such as the converters and controllers. A customer's request for a certain service or product is normally forwarded to the billing system. The billing system sends instructions to the controller, which configures the converter in accordance with the instructions. The controller also communicates with the headend to receive the proper authorization information needed for the particular configuration. This information is sent to the converter. The converter also receives the signal and compares information on the signal to corresponding authorization from the controller. Based on the comparison, the customer may or may not be able to view the signal.
The addressability system may be viewed as the interface between the billing system and the controller. Known addressability systems receive information from the billing system and send it to the appropriate controller to enable the controller to properly configure the converter. A conventional addressability systems may include an addressability server linked to the billing system. The addressability server receives information from the billing system and passes it to controller processors, which forward the information to the appropriate controller. Known systems are hardware driven and the packaging of enabling information is integrated with the billing system. The billing system gathers data corresponding to the customer and request, and packages the data into a format for a particular type of controller. Different types of controllers include, for example, controllers manufactured by Jerrold, Scientific Atlanta, Zenith, Tocom and Oak.
One problem with conventional addressability systems is that the information received by the addressability server has already been packaged for a specific controller. Controllers are limited in the number of hardware links they can support. Because packaged information received by the addressability server is controller specific, and due to hardware limitations, a dedicated link is required between the addressability server and the controller. Since the number of links for a controller are limited, the addressability system can only support a limited number of controller types. The limit on the supportable controller links, together with the hardware limitations, also results in limits on the number of priority levels which can be accepted by a given controller. Thus, prior addressability systems are limited in their hardware and software scalability.
These problems are examples of difficulties encountered by the prior art. It will be appreciated by those having ordinary skill in the art that other problems exist with known addressability systems.